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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 318 036 CS 212 325 AUTHOR Farrell, Edmund J., Ed.; Squire, James R., Ed. TITLE Transactions with Literature: A Fifty-Year Perspective. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, Ill. REPORT NO ISBN-0-8141-5510-3 PUB DATE 90 NOTE 215p. AVAILABLE FROMNational Council of "eachers of English, 1111 Kenyon Rd., Urbana, IL 61801 (Stock No. 5510.3 -0015; $7.95 member, $10.95 nonmember). PUB TYPE Books (010) -- Collecte' Works - General (020) -- Reference Materials - Bibliographies (131) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adolescent Literature; Annotated Bibliographies; Childrens Literature; Educational Research; *Literary Criticism; *Literature Appreciation; *Reader Response; *Reader Text Relationship; Theory Practice Relationship IDENTIFIERS Aesthetic Reading; Literary Theory; *Rosenblatt (Louise) ABSTRACT To honor the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Louise M. Rosenblatt's book "Literature as Exploration," this book offers 12 essays that demonstrate the extraordinary influence of Rosenblatt's work on the teaching of literature, on literary theory, and on educational research in all English-speaking countries. Further, it evinces the power of a point of view that embraces both tne reader and the literary work while focusing on the transaction between the two. The book contains the following articles: "Fifty Years of Exploring Children's Books" (Rudine Sims Bishop); "Fifty Years of Literature for Young Adults" (Kenneth Donelson); "Students Exploring Literature across the World (John Dixon); "'Literature as Exploration' and the Classroom" (Robert E. Probst); "The California Literature Project" (Mary A. Barr); "Exploring a Poem" (Stephen Dunning); "Fostering Literary Understanding: The State of the Schools" (Arthur N. Applebee); "New Directions in Research on Response to Literature" (Richard Beach); "Can Literature Be Rescued from Reading?" (Alan C. Purves); "Retrospect" (Louise Rosenblatt); "Materials and Approaches to Literature Instruction" (James Bradley); and "Research on Response to Literature" (Richard Beach and Susan Hynds). The last two selections are annotated bibliographies. (SR) ********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Transactions with Literature A Fifty-Year Perspective Edited by Edmund J. Farrell James R. Squire for Louise M. Rosenblatt "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Office of Educational Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) . M Al(L10ELL This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it 0 Minor changes have be( made in improve reproduction quality ..11* sm.t Im Ms ,as as, s As, asa PR. mos. s . Louise M. Rosenblatt 3 Transactions with Literature A Fifty-Year Perspective rr For Louise M. Rosenblatt Edited by Edmund J. Farrell University of Texas at Austin James R. Squire Silver Burdett & Ginn National Council of Teachers of English 1111 Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801 Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint thefollowing material: "January Chance" from Collected and NewPoems, 1924-1963 by Mark Van Doren. Copyright @ 1963 by Mark Van Doren. Reprintedby permission of Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc.Robert Clairmont for "When Did the World Begin" fromFOREVER X,copyright 1951 by Robert Clairmont, published by Contemporary Poetry, Baltimore,Maryland. NCTE Editorial Board: Richard Abrahamson, CeliaGenishi, Richard Lloyd- Jones, Raymond Rodrigues, Brooke Workman; CharlesSuhor, ex officio; Michael Spooner, ex officio Staff Editor: Mary Daniels Cover Design: Mary Daniels and Michael J. Getz Interior Book Design: Tom Kovacs for TGK Design NCTE Stuck Number5510-3 © 1990by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rightsreserved. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and otherpublications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerningthe content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicityaccorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by theExecutive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcementsof policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Transactions with literature: a fifty-year perspective :for Louise M. Rosenblatt / edited by Edmund J. Farrell, James R. Squire. p. cm. "Symposium of articles for the 1988 Convention of theNational Council of Teachers of English, held in St. Louis"Pref. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8141-5510-3 1. English literatureStudy and teachingCongresses. 2. American literatureStudy and teachingCongresses. 3. Rosenblatt, Louise M. (Louise Michelle).I. Rosenblatt, Louise M. (Louise Michelle)II. Farrell, Edmund J.III. Squire, James R.IV. National Council of Teachers of English.V. National Council of Teachers of English. Convention(1988: Saint Louis, Mo.) PR37.T7 1990 820'.7dc20 90-56/0 CIP Contents Preface vii Edmund J. Farrell and James R. Squire Introduction: Fifty Years of Literature as Exploration ix Edmund J. Farrell A. Literature as Exploration and Books for Young People 1. Fifty Years of Exploring Children'sBooks 1 Rudine Sims Bishop 2. Fifty Years of Literature for YoungAdults 11 Kenneth Donelson 3. Studilits Exploring Literatureacross the World 19 John Dixon B. Literature as Exploration and the Classroom Tradition 4. Literature as Cxploration and the Classroom 27 Robert E. Probst 5. The California Literature Project 39 Mary A. Barr 6. Exploring a Poem 47 Stephen Dunning vi Contents C.Literature as Exploration and the Research Tradition 7. Fostering Literary Understanding: The State of the Schools 59 Arthur N. Applebee 8. New Directions in Research on Response to Literature 65 Richard Beach 9. Can Literature Be Rescued from Reading? 79 Alan C. Purves D. Reaffirming Literature as Exploration 10. Retrospect 97 Louise M. Rosenblatt E. Selected Bibliographies from the Center for The Learning and Teaching of Literature 11. Materials and Approaches to Literature Instruction 111 James Bradley 12. Research on Response to Literature 131 Richard Beach and Susan Hynds Editors 207 Contributors 209 Preface Fifty years is a remarkable life for a work on the learning and teaching of literature. Yet Literature as Exploration by Louise M. Rosenblatt is now in its fourth edition, published by The Modern Language Association (1983), and its influence has never been greater. What other book on teaching written fifty years ago is even read today? To recognize, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of its publication, the impact that Literature as Exploration has had, friends and admirers of Professor Rosenblatt's work prepared the following symposium of articles for the 1988 Convention of the National Council of Teachers of English, held in St. Louis. The Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature contributed the annotated bibliographies of materials and approaches to literature instruction and of studies on reader-response. The symposium demonstrates the extraordinary influence of Rosenblatt's work on the teaching of literature, on literary theory, and on educational research in all English-speaking countries. Further, it evinces the power of a point of view that embraces both the reader and the literary work while focusing on the transaction between the two. Indeed, the widespread influence of Louise Rosenblatt's book accounts for much of the diversity of articles in this monograph. Con- cern with the responses to literature written expressly for children and young people has led, during the past fifty years, to an awakening of interest in such literature, to the establishment of critical standards by which it might be judged, and to its increased use in our classrooms. Concern with the transaction between book and reader had led to a reappraisal of how literature is most effectively taught and to the de- velopment of strategies to enhance the transaction. And concern with reader-response has broadened research to include attention to the nature and process of the literary transaction and to the ensuing literary experience. Thus, at least three dimensions of our knowledge about literature and its teaching have been permanently transformed and illuminated by Louise M. Rosenblatt's work, and all three are represented by articles in the separate sections of this monograph. The celebration of the influence of Literature as Exploration then concludes vii viii with a gracious, eloquent, and important statement by Louise Rosen- blatt herself, as she reflects on how her magnum opus happened to be published and how it was initially received. Diverse points of view exist, of course, on a subject as rich as the teaching of literature. But the commemoration of Literature as Explora- tion seems not an appropriate occasion for partisan debate. Rather, the articles in this collection document the powerful ideas unleashed by a single book five decades ago, and trace so le of the ways in which these ideas have enriched our profession and our teaching. No one who has really read Literature (is Exploration has ever been able to think about literature and its teaching in quite the same way as before. E.J.F. and J.R.S. Summer 1989 9 Introduction: Fifty Years of Literature as Exploration